Paul Barrow points out that "the real focus" of DHS "is not on prevention but on management of disasters" which "have created immense political backlash." But the real backlash will come when we attempt to use the new software & there's noone to show us how!

An overview of the trial of Shawna Forde in Tucson tells us little we don't already know.... I kept missing the fact that she was a beautician....

Contrary to what I'm sure you're going to hear this weekend: Reagan was not one of our most popular presidents, both during his reign & for the first decade after it (how quickly we forget!);

Veterans under 35 Experience Traumatic Deaths at Higher Rates than Californians with no Military Service

At least now we know that the right-wing extremism isn't just reserved for violating the civil rights of immigrants: LGBT & DV victims are now(?) included in the list of victims of the state's culture wars.... Or as a native has put it on the comments page:

Once again, the data shows that 287(g) programs are violating people's civil rights, fighting efforts at accountability & oversight, & choosing to ignore the directive to focus on dangerous criminals rather than increasing their numbers by picking on the easiest targets in the im …

"Alarming trends" is the understatement of the day!

At least the British press is covering the trial of Shawna Forde for this outrageous murder of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores & her father by the renegade Minutemen operative.

A heady combination of reflections on our willingness to do whatever we want with our prisoners regardless of the treaties to which we are signatories & notification that Amnesty International has a letter condeming Bradley Manning's treatment; his lawyer David Coombs has stated  …

I hope you weren't thinking that the people in the government who were putting you in harm's way were actually going to make sure that you received the treatment you deserved for your services.... If you were, perhaps you should look at Joe Rogan's youtube page!

Here come the states!

"Count to ten; & take a deep breath!"

A second time around, this expose on the culture of corruption & secrecy that allows Border Patrol officials literally get away with murder was even more rewarding & meaningful: it is an absolute must-read, regardless of your political persuasion.

Another brilliant piece on the rising anti-immigrant states-rights extremists being accepted into the mainstream discourse of American politics just as they are being elected into the mainstream offices of American jurisprudence (however unprudently) leaves me wondering if the Ut …

It takes a pretty sick mind to come up with the many things that Limbaugh has been spewing over the years, but this one could be his "David" moment....

How hard is it to recognize that if we're going to send so much money to Mexico, that we ought to make sure that at least some of the money goes to fund development projects rather than flooding corrupt police & government officials' offices with more grease for their wheels?

Pine Manor, Florida -- A tablecloth acts as a makeshift curtain over a cracked, tinted window at the beige Eighth Avenue apartment unit where deputies say a woman enslaved four children. Piles of clothes are visible when peering inside.

"Palestinian Authority terrorists over the weekend attacked workers building an underground "Iron Curtain" between Egypt and Gaza as Cairo tightens security at the border in an effort to end the weapons and drug smuggling into Gaza.

"I admit to feeling something close to rage watching this video of a SWAT team breaking into this family's home, shooting their dogs in front of their seven-year-old boy, and then arresting the father and charging the parents with child endangerment all over the possession of a …

"Authorities in the Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon are investigating after finding at least 38 bodies in nine hidden mass graves, the state's attorney general said.

"Whenever Bangladeshi brothel owner Rokeya, 50, signs up a new sex worker she gives them a course of steroid drugs often used to fatten cattle.

Big Pharma Sells Out Medical Science

Every country has secrets it does not want foreigners to discover, and I have just found one from Bangladesh.

It is a vast brothel, where 800 women and girls lead painful and degrading lives, in the otherwise pleasant town of Tangail, a place of flowering trees and atmospheric old bazaars, a couple of hours drive from the capital Dhaka.

Comments made by Columbia, Mo., Police Chief Ken Burton last week have excited marijuana legalization advocates, and the chief is standing by his statement that he does not know how to enforce the city's marijuana laws.

"If we can get out of the business, I think there is a lot of police officers that would be happy to do that," Chief Burton said of using police resources in enforce marijuana laws.